Jennifer Hale just sounds like she's doing an impression of a macho guy - I've not seen anything with any more range than Mark Meer (who I also thought stepped up a fair bit from the first game to the second), who sounds much more natural when ManShep is speaking.
amen to that. i was a bit disappointed by her, too.
and i agree that she did sound much more convincing/alive in pretty much all her other work; i can only guess why that is.
i of course still liked her voice, it's beautiful, but i missed any sort of emotion and variation in the mass effect series so far.
if you played your femshep as a coldhearted b*tch it was ok, i guess, but when femshep was flirting or sympathetic or whatever "nice" feelings there are, i just felt like she is not really feeling that.
I can't believe people think Hale was better as Bastilla. Bastilla's fake accent makes my skin crawl. Then again Bastilla as a character goes thru much deeper, personal changes than Shepard ever did. Matter of taste I suppose.
Between Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale I always choose Hale for one reason:
Male Shepard sounds like a complete jarhead. A militia man with little to no opinion of his own. FemShep sounds like a soldier yes, but still can be human when the situation requires it.
Bob_Marley42 said:
Femshep is awesome.
Because she's Major Sarah Parker.
Seriously, thats the only explanation i can think of as to why come the events of Mass Effect 2 Shepard is the only female in the Galaxy, aside from those who are members of uniformed state militaries or mercenary groups, who think it might be a good idea to put on some body armour when going into combat. Or you know, a mission on which the chances of survival are at best slim.
Honestly ladies, put a damn flack jacket on. No, it can't have a clevage window.
The problem for me is that I find it difficult to roleplay a female character... because I'm not a woman... so I don't think like one, so it's hard for me to get into the character.
I tried roleplaying a woman in KOTOR, and it just didn't feel as immersive.
Maybe once ME3 is out, and I've had my fill, I'll replay the trilogy as FemShep, just to see how well it works.
All hail Jennifer Hale! Glad to see Bioware have finally pulled their fingers out and are fully supporting FemShep! Not so glad to see them trying to take all of the credit for it, but hey ho.
I can't stant to play female shepard. I thought male shepard was monotone, but compair him to her, and wow, his voice tallent is amazing, I'd take him over that lifeless thing they call female shepard's voice actor.
Lol so Bioware is trying to turn this into another "we give you freedom choice" thing.
Choice is overrated. You can either be a prick who saves the world or a douche who saves the world. You can peruse a shallow relationship with this alien chick, that alien chick, the frog or that human woman over there but they're all as meaningless and sex dependent as the last.
I'm sorry, but I just don't get the appeal of this whole choice thing. To me the more options you give me the more I'm aware you haven't given me. Why can't I join the Enclave in Fallout? Why can I use explosives to bust through this door but not that door?
Give me a deep and coherent linear story any day. Spare me the meaningless dialog options unless you're willing to let me actually become evil and destroy the world rather than being just being evil who saves it. And while we're at it, morality isn't so black and white. Ditch the karma system why don't you and develop some multi-point morality system or would that be too complicated to program.
...Why? It's one of her poorest voice acting performances. Play any other game she's done voice work for and you know she can do way better than the bland, monotone robot that is FemShep.
Woodsey said:
Jennifer Hale just sounds like she's doing an impression of a macho guy - I've not seen anything with any more range than Mark Meer (who I also thought stepped up a fair bit from the first game to the second), who sounds much more natural when ManShep is speaking.
I can't stant to play female shepard. I thought male shepard was monotone, but compair him to her, and wow, his voice tallent is amazing, I'd take him over that lifeless thing they call female shepard's voice actor.
Hoo boy. Bioware, there's more to it than this and I'm hoping you know it. Unless you've got stats we don't have access to, which is always possible.
But here's why Fem-Shep has such a following:
1. Because of what she represents: Yes, you're right, but in the wrong way. Male Shepard can be customized as well, after all, but it's the female Shepard who's gotten the attention. And a big part of that is that she is female, and furthermore, that this changes the story. Bioware's stories are stories of personal struggle and emotional issues -- look at all the loyalty missions. It's no coincidence that most are driven less by revenge and machoism than by senses of betrayal and hurt. (Miranda, Archangel and Mordin are betrayed by those they trusted; Jacob and Tali feel betrayed by family members; Samara feels betrayed by her daughter; Kasumi by her lover.) So, with that in mind, look at M-Shep. He's a soldier who's been really damn good at his job, and becomes the first human Spectre. Neat. But female Shepard? Hey, we get a good look at that army, and it's pretty damn male. Suddenly, she's fighting against her own institution just to get to where she is. She's become strong from adversity. Just by virtue of being female in a male dominated arena, she gains a massive boost to her story.
2. The Voice Acting, and the Actor: OK, let's be honest: Hale has a fandom. That's part of it. That said? I'm pretty sure myself and anyone else with an acting background would agree that Hale kicked Meer's ASS in ME1. She had endlessly more range, able to find tender emotion when called for and steeliness when needed. Meer actually probably did 'steely' a bit better, but that's all he did. He had no light and shadow in that performance, it's bleached out in one direction. Hale found more in the character.
Why are they so bland? Simply put, because both have to act two characters at once: Paragon Shepard, and Renegade Shepard. Not easy; you need to think about every line and deliver it in a way that can be interpreted to match either character. Meer, in the first game, did this by just blanking out any sense of motivation. Hale did a better job by introducing ambiguity into her phrasing. To his credit, Meer picked up on her tricks and used a lot of them in the second game; it's endlessly more enjoyable as a male Shepard than the first one as a result. I actually think both gave good, solid performances in the second game.
3. The female fanbase: It is a Bioware RPG, guys. They've always had a strong female following. Is it little wonder a large section of that fanbase might be pleased as punch to have a female character for once? And to a lesser extent, this follows through into the male community. A female lead is unusual enough that a lot of guys will take her just to be different.
4. The boobs?: Eh, I don't buy it. Shepard's armor is designed to be fairly non-sexy; a smart choice from the designers. Overall, I think this isn't as huge a factor as people have made out.
Can you explain this any further? I'm baffled by those who hated her performance: I found it far, far superior, with a lot more tonal variation and consideration. I had a firmer understanding of her emotional position throughout than Meer in ME1. (As noted above, ME2 he did a better job, though I still think Hale held as slightly better.)
I've never understood people that say FemShep is some big role model for female rights because she does everything ManShep does. Seems like she's just a big role model for women that want to act like the stereotypical male hero.
Maybe it's just me though, because on my one FemShep playthrough I was just confused as to why FemShep spent the entire game acting like a man opposed to acting more like a woman. Alternatively, the fact that ManShep and FemShep can do mostly the exact same things in every situation could be some kind of super-equality point BioWare is trying to make.
This whole line of thought has never really made sense to me. What would FemShep do (beyond not sitting down like this [http://philosophicalgamer.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/female_shepard_legs_200.jpg?w=200&h=200]) to be more female? Shooting people is pretty gender-neutral.
Chatting about handbags, having a mini-game in which you can paint her nails, showing far more skin and cooking for everyone on the Normandy?
[sup]Oh man, I'm such an asshole.[/sup]
Quite frankly, she is just far too butch for my liking. Even ParaFemShep (so many shortened words!) seems like she's saying lines originally written for ManShep.
Hoo boy. Bioware, there's more to it than this and I'm hoping you know it. Unless you've got stats we don't have access to, which is always possible.
But here's why Fem-Shep has such a following:
1. Because of what she represents: Yes, you're right, but in the wrong way. Male Shepard can be customized as well, after all, but it's the female Shepard who's gotten the attention. And a big part of that is that she is female, and furthermore, that this [/i]changes the story[/i]. Bioware's stories are stories of personal struggle and emotional issues -- look at all the loyalty missions. It's no coincidence that most are driven less by revenge and machoism than by senses of betrayal and hurt. (Miranda, Archangel and Mordin are betrayed by those they trusted; Jacob and Tali feel betrayed by family members; Samara feels betrayed by her daughter; Kasumi by her lover.) So, with that in mind, look at M-Shep. He's a soldier who's been really damn good at his job, and becomes the first human Spectre. Neat. But female Shepard? Hey, we get a good look at that army, and it's pretty damn male. Suddenly, she's fighting against her own institution just to get to where she is. She's become strong from adversity. Just by virtue of being female in a male dominated arena, she gains a massive boost to her story.
2. The Voice Acting, and the Actor: OK, let's be honest: Hale has a fandom. That's part of it. That said? I'm pretty sure myself and anyone else with an acting background would agree that Hale kicked Meer's ASS in ME1. She had endlessly more range, able to find tender emotion when called for and steeliness when needed. Meer actually probably did 'steely' a bit better, but that's all he did. He had no light and shadow in that performance, it's bleached out in one direction. Hale found more in the character.
Why are they so bland? Simply put, because both have to act two characters at once: Paragon Shepard, and Renegade Shepard. Not easy; you need to think about every line and deliver it in a way that can be interpreted to match either character. Meer, in the first game, did this by just blanking out any sense of motivation. Hale did a better job by introducing ambiguity into her phrasing. To his credit, Meer picked up on her tricks and used a lot of them in the second game; it's endlessly more enjoyable as a male Shepard than the first one as a result. I actually think both gave good, solid performances in the second game.
3. The female fanbase: It is a Bioware RPG, guys. They've always had a strong female following. Is it little wonder a large section of that fanbase might be pleased as punch to have a female character for once? And to a lesser extent, this follows through into the male community. A female lead is unusual enough that a lot of guys will take her just to be different.
4. The boobs?: Eh, I don't buy it. Shepard's armor is designed to be fairly non-sexy; a smart choice from the designers. Overall, I think this isn't as huge a factor as people have made out.
I've never understood people that say FemShep is some big role model for female rights because she does everything ManShep does. Seems like she's just a big role model for women that want to act like the stereotypical male hero.
Maybe it's just me though, because on my one FemShep playthrough I was just confused as to why FemShep spent the entire game acting like a man opposed to acting more like a woman. Alternatively, the fact that ManShep and FemShep can do mostly the exact same things in every situation could be some kind of super-equality point BioWare is trying to make.
This whole line of thought has never really made sense to me. What would FemShep do (beyond not sitting down like this [http://philosophicalgamer.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/female_shepard_legs_200.jpg?w=200&h=200]) to be more female? Shooting people is pretty gender-neutral.
Chatting about handbags, having a mini-game in which you can paint her nails, showing far more skin and cooking for everyone on the Normandy?
[sup]Oh man, I'm such an asshole.[/sup]
Quite frankly, she is just far too butch for my liking. Even ParaFemShep (so many shortened words!) seems like she's saying lines originally written for ManShep.
But what does that actually mean? A modern woman would be "pretty butch" by 19th century standards (or really, early 20th century standards), so it doesn't stretch disbelief that gender roles would have relaxed even further (especially in the military) in a game set in the 22nd century.
...Why? It's one of her poorest voice acting performances. Play any other game she's done voice work for and you know she can do way better than the bland, monotone robot that is FemShep.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
